Habeck wants to skim off random profits from energy companies

Berlin The electricity price brake planned by the federal government is beginning to take shape. The relief of households and the economy with electricity costs is “urgently necessary”, according to an 18-page paper on the electricity price brake from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which is available to the Handelsblatt. The Ministry of Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to be guided by the proposals of the Gas Price Commission. According to the paper, there should be a cheaper “basic quota based on historical consumption” for every household, analogous to the gas price brake.

In the case of the gas price brake, the commission set up by the federal government had recommended a value of 80 percent of historical consumption. Households can get this amount cheaper than would actually be possible on the market. Habeck’s paper on the electricity price brake does not give a value for the basic quota for electricity, but 80 percent are also considered likely here. The ministry officials write: The quota must be determined in such a way “that savings signals continue to arrive”.